It is important for companies to manage what data enters their storage environment to prevent illegal or unwanted files from being stored in potential violation of laws and/or company policy. Without executing such control, companies may be exposed to legal actions and run the risk that their corporate storage environments are quickly filled up with non-business related data such as videos, music files and the like which can consume large amounts of valuable storage.
Various software vendors provide tools that look at the file extension to determine the file type. However to truly determine what the type of a file is entering the environment, a mechanism is needed to determine the true file type that is not based on the file extension, which is alterable by the user. Many users will rename the extension of a non-sanctioned file type (e.g. “.mp3”) to a sanctioned file type (e.g. “.doc”) to avoid it being detected that they are storing prohibited files. Changing the file extension does not change the file characteristics.
Accordingly, what is needed is a cost-effective, metadata independent mechanism for the determination of true computer file types. This file determination mechanism can then be used as a component of storage management software and interact with a file blocking mechanism to prohibit unwanted files from being saved on the storage system being monitored and controlled.